Label: elsewhere

ヴァンデルヴァイザー派の音楽家達と頻繁に絡む現代の現音/クラシック音楽シーンの新鋭アーティストと言える、オランダの女性作曲家にしてクラリネット奏者のGermaine Sijstermans。初となるソロアルバムがelsewhereより2CDフォーマットでリリース。2017年から2019年の間に作曲された7曲を収録、ヴァンデルヴァイザーの主Antoine Beugerや古楽の演奏を行うヴァイオリニストJohnny Chang、Unseen Worldsから単独アルバムを出しているアメリカンコンポーザーのLeo Svirskyら、 豪華メンバーが集結した6名編成のアンサンブル録音。それぞれの発するサウンドが並行して進行、絶妙な干渉により出現する魅力的な倍音、また終始漂う有機的なテクスチャーが美しいクラシカルなミニマル作品。タイトル"Betula"は白樺の木の意味。









Dutch composer/clarinetist Germaine Sijstermans is one of the emerging artists of the new generation of the contemporary classical music scene, regularly and closely working with artists associated with Edition Wandelweiser.

This is her debut album as a composer, a double CD containing seven of her recent pieces, all composed between 2017-2019 and performed by the ensemble of six musicians who had worked closely together from the very start of the project: Antoine Beuger (concert flute), Germaine Sijstermans (clarinet), Rishin Singh (trombone), Johnny Chang (viola), Fredrik Rasten (guitar, ebow), and Leo Svirsky (accordion).

Contemplative yet vibrant, the six musicians’ sounds overlap with each other while slowly moving forward in parallel. The subtle interactions of six instruments create enthralling rich overtones, and allow the music to evolve organically over a long course of time, as if new branches and leaves were stealthily sprouting out of a tree. (The album title ‘Betula’ means ‘birch tree’.)

Evoking a dynamic life growing in tranquility, Sijstermans’ pieces resonate with the ethereal, minimalist aesthetics of her installation art (actually set up in the same room during the ensemble’s concerts of these pieces) in which she places materials such as several stones or rice papers hung in the air sparsely using thin threads, allowing the viewer/listener to simultaneously experience a sense of closeness and openness, both visually and sonically.

“My work is neither programmatic, nor does it contain a narrative. It hands material and possibilities to the subjective perception of all that encounter it: performers, visitors and listeners. The last thing I'd want is for them to make associations based on prior knowledge. I would say that in general my biggest source of inspiration is nature and its workings.” — Germaine Sijstermans